On the Block
by tsutsuji
Summary: Captured by demons to be auctioned off for some evil purpose, Zelgadis is not sure that Xelloss's offer of rescue is a much better fate. Xelloss/Zelgadis, yaoi


**Title: On the Block**  
Author: tsutsuji  
Rating: M  
Warnings: bondage, public humiliation, dom/sub  
Written for Springkink Round VIII, Prompt: Nov. 1, Slayers; Xelloss/Zelgadis: dom/sub - "so innocent and I ruined you" and also further prodded into existence by watashinokokoro's prompt on my lj for "Xel/Zel/OC, slave auction."  
Word count: 5588  
Summary: Caught by demons to be auctioned off for dubious purposes, Zelgadis is not sure Xelloss' method of rescuing him is a much better fate. Featuring a special guest appearance by Fonfon from the h-game "Lightning Warrior Raidy."  
AN: OMG this got long and it kept trying to sprout some kind of damn plot! And it probably still needs editing, but oh well. Please enjoy the Zel-torture; I know Xelloss did. ;D

Zelgadis couldn't even blame Lina Inverse for getting him into this particular humiliating situation. He'd tracked his own deliberate way into this demon-infested country of Sadd, reasoning that a region so long associated with demonic activity might also contain some Black Magic knowledge he could use in his quest to restore his human form. He had not expected to find a highly organized society of lesser demons, half-demon humans and other dark magic creatures, with a thriving local commerce supported in part by very successful slave market.

He had especially not expected to discover that the slave-raiders, accustomed as they were to taking helpless human captives, were also fully prepared to deal with a highly skilled sorcerer-swordsman, or that they actually considered a rock-golem chimera with a body of stone and the features of a brow demon to be a particularly valuable prize; valuable enough, in fact, that they thought nothing of the three lesser demons he'd managed to kill before the rest overpowered him and clamped a magic-dampening collar around his neck.

The spell on the collar was also designed to sap his will and put him under the demons' control, but Zelgadis' chimera form had been molded by the Red Priest Rezo himself, and having once broken that hold on his soul, it would take one even more powerful to subdue him completely now. Even so, the initial struggle distracted and confused him long enough that, when he came to himself again, he was disarmed and tightly bound with magically-enhanced ropes, and had been thrown to his knees in front of the leader of the raiding party, a young half-demon woman with short-cut, silver-grey hair, golden eyes, and the ears and tail of a wolf. Seeing the light of sense return to his eyes, she smiled, showing pointed fangs, and twisted a long, glowing whip between her hands.

"Oh-ho, this is a lively one! And with that body, you'll last a bit longer than the usual human merchandise, too! You'll be well worth the trouble you've caused us once we get you up on the auction block!"

"Auction?" Zelgadis echoed, stilling his instinctive struggles a little as he tried to take stock of his situation.

"Well, I don't have any use for you myself, but some of my richest customers will pay a lot to own a fit body like yours. But you might be just a little too lively still," she added, her feral eyes gleaming. She stepped back, running the whip through her hand like a caress. "You're not my usual kind of plaything, but it wouldn't hurt to soften up that tough hide of yours before we put you up for sale. My buyers need to see that a thing like you can be tamed. Don't worry, I won't damage the merchandise, but you'll find that my whip can put a few marks even on your rocky skin, chimera!"

Zelgadis soon found out it was not an empty boast; her whip-magic was strong enough to bruise stone skin, as well as shredding most of his clothes - which, he guessed miserably, was a large part of her purpose. By the time she led him out onto the raised stage to be auctioned off, he was naked except for his very brief underwear and the collar around his neck, and charmed ropes binding his arms behind his back and shackling his legs. Humiliation burned in his skin far more painfully than the faint bruises left by the whip, as he felt several dozen greedy, demonic pairs of eyes follow him across the stage.

He had to force himself to look back at them, but with his own magic sealed by the collar and the binding spell on the ropes, there wasn't much he could do for the moment except wait for his chance to break free. He shuddered under the force of the the animal lust that radiated from them. It seemed the wolf-girl had been right; there were plenty there who found his hideous form attractive enough for their own purposes.

The bidding started almost immediately. The wolf girl gleefully encouraged a price war between two particular demons in the crowd, and grew more excited as the bids rose even more rapidly than she could call them.

"Hee hee! I knew Mr Shatlot would want a tough little prize like you!" she giggled aside to Zelgadis, in between bids. "He likes to take his sweet time breaking in his new pets, and you're just the shape and size he likes, but the human boys he usually gets can't hold out very long. You'll give him plenty of entertainment!"

"I don't intend to give anyone _anything_," Zelgadis growled under his breath with a shiver of horror.

She laughed at him. "Of course you don't! That's why they can't wait to get their hands on you, and why we're going to make a fortune on you tonight!"

She tugged on his chain, jerking him around to show his profile to the crowd, and nudged his head down with the handle of her whip. The bidding faltered for a moment as they gawked at this new view of him.

"Keep your head down, little pet-to-be," she hissed at him. "You'e _my_ property at the moment, until I close the bidding and sell you off! And as soon as the bidding starts to slow down like they think they're ready to settle, I'm going to do a little demonstration to pique their interest up again, so don't bother getting too cocky yet!"

Zelgadis gritted his teeth and chafed at his bonds while the bidding heated up again. The wolf girl held the chain attached to his collar tightly, so he couldn't keep an eye on the crowd to watch for some kind of opening to get free.

"You sure you've got that thing under control, Fonfon?" a skeptical voice called out from the crowd. "Looks to me like he's about to bust free! Wouldn't be the first time some of your merchandise went missing right after the gold changed hands, would it, now?"

That pulled the bidding war up short while a suspicious murmur ran through the crowd, but Fonfon didn't seem to mind.

"Ha-ha, just what I was waiting for!" she laughed, showing canine teeth as she grinned at Zel.

"Oh, don't worry, folks," she called out to the demon crowd. "This little pet is well under control right now! He's got plenty of spark left in him, it's true, but that's just to make it more interesting for whoever buys him; you get to break him in in your own way! But here, let me give you a little sample of the fun you can have!"

She pulled Zel's head down a little more, enough to attach one end of the chain to an iron ring in the floor of the stage, then she drew the other end through the loop in the collar and attached that to the ropes binding his arms, pulling them up higher on his back. It was an awkward, exposed and vulnerable position, but the only way to make it less unpleasant would be to drop to his knees, and he was defiantly unwilling to do that in front of this leering crowd. He tugged on the chain; he figured he might eventually get enough leverage to yank the iron ring out of the floor, but the enchanted ropes and chains themselves were not going to break as easily unless he could cast a counter-spell, and the collar prevented that.

He could not raise his head enough to look out at the crowd, but he heard a few excited twitters and then a hush of anticipation when Fonfon stepped back behind him. He sensed her own gleeful bloodlust as she raised her powered-up whip.

And then, just when he though his situation could not possibly get any more painful or humiliating, a horribly familiar voice rang out from the crowd.

"Now, now, Madame Auctioneer! Pardon me for interrupting, but I'm afraid there's been a slight misunderstanding. That particular chimera is not actually for sale, you see!"

Zelgadis' blood nearly froze at the sound of that voice, even before he heard someone in the crowd murmur the Mazoku priest's name. He gritted his teeth; of course, it made sense that Xelloss was known in this community of demons! Not that they sounded much more happy to see him than Zel was to hear his voice. The murmurs quickly turned from curious to angry as Xelloss shimmered up onto the stage next to Fonfon.

"I'm afraid, Madame Auctioneer, with all due respect, I must insist that you refrain from leaving any more marks on my personal property!"

"Yours?" the wolf girl yelped, at the same time that Zelgadis jerked hard against his chains in surprise.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Xelloss went on cheerfully, ignoring the crowd's twitters as well as Zel's own sputtered protest. He came over and leaned down to grin into Zel's glaring face. "I've owned him for some time now, but he does manage to run away on me, every now and then. Quite the foolish little chimera! I always find him, no matter where he runs to," he added, winking at Zel where no one else could see. "But really," he continued, while Zelgadis struggled to make any sensible protest, "he's actually quite devoted to me - aren't you, my little pet?"

Xelloss placed his gloved finger against Zel's cheek, so close to his mouth that he was tempted to turn his head and snap at it. Instead, he opened his mouth to say, in no uncertain terms, that he certainly was not any mazoku's pet, and least of all _this_ particular mazoku!

Xelloss stopped him with fingers pressed against his lips, and spoke so quickly and quietly into his ear that Zel's enhanced senses could just barely hear him clearly.

"Once the deal is sealed with a buyer, the binding effect of this lovely little collar become permament," Xelloss murmured. "If the charming Mr Shatlot takes you home, you'll be bound to him for the rest of your life - which could be remarkably short, judging from what that I've heard about him and his slaves."

That was all he said to Zel before he turned to address Fonfon again. She'd jumped backward like a startled cat when he'd appeared on stage, but she recovered her professional attitude quickly.

"If he's your property, Priest, what was he doing out wandering around on his own, here in our territory?" she asked. Others in the crowd echoed the question. "He doesn't have any marks of ownership, and he even had a sword!"

"Huh! Quite a privileged pet for a Mazoku lordling!" Shatlot called out. There were shocked hisses from others in the crowd, warning him not to insult such a high-ranking Mazoku, but that didn't stop him. "Your kind don't run things around here, mazoku priest! If you think you can just interrupt our business and take what you like, maybe you'd better prove your claim first!"

"I'll be glad to," Xelloss said smoothly, holding Zel's gaze and compelling him to stay silent with the gleam in his purple eyes. "If you'll kindly loosen his bonds, just a little, Madame Auctioneer - yes, the collar can remain in place until I've made my point, how's that? - then I'll be happy to demonstrate just what a devoted little chimera he really is!"

Zelgadis glared at him, but said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Shatlot; he looked like some kind of Undead, with sickly, grey skin and yellow eyes. The demon licked thin lips with a tongue that was obscenely long and red, and muttered loudly to those around him that he craved a taste of well-pounded stone.

Zelgadis shuddered and shut out the sight of him. Getting out of here with Xelloss' hand on that magical leash was like walking straight to hell, he was sure, but at least it was a hell he already knew.

Fonfon released the chain from the ring in the floor, but at a nod from Xelloss, she left Zel's arms bound to the collar in the back. With a scowl, she handed the end of the leash to Xelloss and stepped back, arms crossed and whip at the ready.

"Let's begin our little demonstration, then, shall we, my dear little pet chimera?" Xelloss ran his fingertips down Zel's cheek and under his chin, which brought a different kind of shudder through Zel's whole body. "Lower your eyes, pet," Xelloss said, in a slightly louder voice.

Zelgadis glared at him a second longer before dropping his gaze to the floor in front of Xelloss' feet.

"Don't resist me!" Xelloss hissed, half-open eyes flashing. Then he yanked Zelgadis forward with the leash and kissed him.

Startled, Zelgadis let out a muffled yelp. Instinctively he stiffened and tried to pull away. Bound hands flapped uselessly behind his back, and he lost his balance and nearly stumbled sideways. Xelloss' grip on his chin tightened and his eyes narrowed in warning. He caught Zel by the waist with his other hand, to steady him, Zelgadis thought, as he tried to adjust to what Xelloss was doing, but then he realized that Xelloss' hand was sliding down over his hip, teasing at the waistband of fabric, all that covered his last remaining shred of dignity.

"Now now, my naughty pet," Xelloss murmured, smiling against his lips, loudly enough to be heard by their audience. "Let's show them how much you love your master's special touch, hm?"

"Oh, no. Don't," Zelgadis pleaded softly as he realized what Xelloss intended to do. Of course, Xelloss ignored him. He pulled Zel's head back, forcing him to arch his back and thrust his lower body forward while he trailed a surprisingly hot tongue down his neck. At the same time he reached between Zel's legs and began to stroke him through the narrow fabric.

"Please don't do this," Zel whispered, eyes squeezed closed as if that could shut out the humiliation he felt. He barely mouthed the words, but he knew Xelloss could hear him. "Please, don't..."

Afraid at first that he would disprove the Mazoku priest's claim no matter what Xelloss did to him, he was even more horrified to find his body responding almost immediately. Xelloss' touch was shockingly arousing, the perfect pattern of strokes and pressure. He didn't know how a Mazoku knew exactly how to touch him like this, but Zelgadis felt himself harden as readily as if it was his own practiced touch on himself in private, rather than the hand of a not-to-be-trusted Mazoku priest in front of a crowd of lecherous demons.

"Don't do what?" Xelloss teased, nuzzling Zel's face so that he could whisper into his ear. "This? Make you feel good? Does it bother you that much, Zel-san?" he went on, his voice even softer as he continued, musingly, "Are you really so very innocent...?"

As much horrified as aroused, Zelgadis pressed his face against Xelloss. "Please, stop this," he said, but it came out in a moan.

"Hm, would you rather have what Shatlot wants to give you? Because I don't think he'd really bother with this part at all, do you? I'm sure he's much more interested in _this_!"

He reached around and squeezed Zel's ass. Zel shot upright on his toes, rigid, eyes screwed shut, as Xelloss' fingers prodded deeper, tugging at the fabric that barely covered him to begin with. The sight drew a lewd, eager reaction from the crowd, especially Shatlot.

"Damn it, Xelloss, let go of me!" he hissed, squirming to get away from the invasive touch and the greedy gazes he could feel raking over his back like claws.

His struggles seemed to please their audience even more than anything else they'd seen. He heard Fonfon giggle, "Oh, I know what to do with a naughty slave-butt like that!" and remembered how much she had enjoyed applying her whip to that part of his anatomy earlier. He did his best to shut out Shatlot's even more vivid descriptions of what he'd do with the piece of merchandise now in the Mazoku lordling's hands.

"You see, Zel-san," Xelloss whispered in his ear, wrapping his arms around him tightly again to stop his struggles, "our friend Shatlot is far more interested in breaking this defiant, proud chimera the auctioneer dragged up on stage, rather than in bringing you any kind of pleasure. But if he thinks you're already broken, he might lose interest after all..."

With a sinking feeling, Zelgadis realized that was probably true. It might not stop others from trying to buy him for some other use, but the other demons in the crowd did not seem as inclined to argue with a Mazoku priest as Shatlot was. Convincing Shatlot that he was not as interesting as they thought could save him from some unimaginable fate, but that would mean playing along and letting it look as if he really did belong to Xelloss...

Satisfied that Zel had stopped the worst of his struggles, Xelloss slipped one hand back around to continue stroking his embarrasingly strong erection. He almost groaned out loud when Xelloss took hold of him again. Of course Xelloss realized this and laughed softly, and for some reason Zelgadis couldn't fathom, that only made his touch even more arousing.

He tried to play along with what had apparently been Xelloss' plan from the beginning - a plan to rescue him, if he could believe that, but by now it hardly mattered what the purpose of it was. Between the humiliating comments from the crowd and the heat of their eyes on him, the barely-contained violent lust he could sense from Shatlot, and the way Xelloss was so expertly touching him, Zelgadis started to think he'd do anything to get away from this, and almost anything to get Xelloss to finish what he'd started, anything at all, anything to just.. get... _anything_...

"Master," he said, barely above a whisper.

He felt Xelloss' hand falter on him for a second. Through lowered lashes, he saw Xelloss' mouth curve upward in approval as he went back to stroking Zel with the same, maddeningly perfect touch. But he knew it needed to be louder, for all of them to hear, if this was ever going to stop before he went mad.

"Master," he said again, letting a little sob of desperation come through in his voice this time. The demon crowd went quiet, listening - in disappointment, he hoped.

"I'm sorry, Master Xelloss," he said, dropping his head to nuzzle against the mazoku's shoulder - taking care not to poke him in the face with his wirey hair. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you and ran away. Please, master," he said in a harsh whisper, but then stopped. Begging felt far too real.

"Hm?" Xelloss said, cocking his head to look at him indulgently. His hand slowed down, but he raised his other hand, holding the leash, and fondled Zel's chest and then his face. "Please what, pet?"

"Please," Zel said, and he was just as desperate as he let himself sound, "take me back - take me away from here with you! _Oh please!_" The words tore out of his throat, and it didn't even matter that Xelloss would know it was not an act.

"Aw shit, listen to the thing whining already!" Shatlot muttered in disgust.

Xellos caught Zel's eye for a moment, his glance gleaming with triumph and meaning. Zelgadis took the hint, even though he was so distracted by what Xelloss had done to him by now that almost all he could think about was getting away and getting _some_ kind of relief. But he understood what Xelloss wanted him to do. Leaving the last of his pride behind, he dropped to his knees.

He let desperation look like desire and submission as he leaned toward Xelloss, nuzzling his thigh, begging with his whole body. Using his own feeling of horror at what he was doing as a guide, he made sure he looked as utterly submissive as possible. Everything inside him screamed out at him for being weak, but weakness was the only thing that would get him out of this, now - weakness, and Xelloss.

"You mean you don't even need to whip him?" Fonfon whined, highly disappointed and rapidly losing any interest she might have had.

"As you can see...." Xelloss said. His voice did not have quite the smug glee that Zelgadis expected, and he shivered, for some reason, when the Mazoku's fingertips touched his hair.

Shatlot snarled in disgust.

"Feh! You can keep that pile of mush, Priest; its spine is all on the outside! You've already ruined him, training him wouldn't be any fun at all! Hey, Auctioneer, you better have something better than this to sell us!"

"Damn," Fonfon muttered, knuckles of one hand pressed against her teeth. "I thought we were going to make a fortune off this one!" She sighed. "He definitely belongs to you, though, Priest. Any idiot could see that."

"Yes, he does," Xelloss said. He gathered the leash in his hand to keep Zel snug against his leg, and let his fingers play through Zelgadis' stiff hair. "I can see why you might have thought otherwise; he can be so defiant, but honestly, I think that's part of his charm! So, you relinquish all claim to him, Madame Auctioneer? And we'll just call your trying to sell him an honest mistake, rather than saying you tried to steal property from the Mazoku, of course!"

"I don't steal anyone's merchandise!" she snapped, so indignantly that Zelgadis thought she might actually be telling the truth. "I relinquish all claim," she added, as if it was formality that had to be followed by any honest demon slave trader. Honor among demons, Zelgadis supposed.

Behind them, the demon crowd's demand for her to bring out something they could bid on was growing louder, and the grumbling against Xelloss was taking on a nasty edge. Fonfon glanced at the crowd and back to Xelloss, then she glared down at Zelgadis for a second.

"Don't let him run away again, though, or no telling where he'll end up next time!" she warned. She frowned at Xelloss suspiciously. "You've made your point, Mazoku! Now go away and leave us alone. Take your little pet and get out of here, before you get me caught up in some kind of international incident!"

Xelloss smiled, humming softly; he sounded very pleased with himself now. It occured to Zelgadis, finally, that Xelloss showing up here to "rescue" him might not have been either luck or coincidence; there was some kind of tension between this demon community and the Mazoku, but at the moment, he was both too relieved and too desperately aroused to worry about it. He nudged Xelloss' leg again, hoping to reinforce Fonfon's suggestion.

"Thank you for taking care of my little chimera pet, Madame Auctioneer," Xelloss said. "Perhaps we'll meet again someday!"

"Hope not," Fonfon muttered, just before Xelloss pulled Zelgadis close to his legs and whispered "hold on tight, Zel-chan!"

The next thing he knew, he was dropping out of physical space into a vast, swirling blackness, but before he could even find enough of his senses to panic, the world blinked back into existence again like a gasped breath.

The place where they landed was nearly as dark as the trip through astral space had been; all Zel knew was that he was now on his knees on a dusty stone floor, and faint, grey light silhoutted Xelloss as he looked up. Things didn't get much clearer when Xelloss yanked him up to his feet by the leash a second later. Now all he could really see was amethyst-colored eyes and a familiar, smug grin.

"Xelloss, let g-ungh!" His demand was cut short when Xelloss pulled him forward and kissed him again, if anything, harder than before - to Zel's alarm and frustration. He had assumed it was an act on Xelloss' part, half rescue tactic and half the chance to humiliate him in front of the crowd of demons, but Xelloss seemed determined to continue the act even without an audience.

His head spun in confusion when Xelloss quickly began groping him again. He desperately wanted to pull away - but nearly as desperately, he wanted to come, now.

"Xelloss, please," he moaned into the Mazoku's mouth, trying to beg for him either to set his hands free so he could deal with this incredible arousal himself, or for Xelloss to just finish it for him...

For a few breath-stopping seconds, it seemed that Xelloss was going to do just that. Then he stopped, leaving Zel's head spinning. Gasping for breath, he realized he still had the damn collar on.

"Xelloss, let me go _now_!" he demanded, just barely managing to sound like he really meant it, in spite of his body obviously being in the state that it was in, and in spite of the fact that he _really_ wanted Xelloss to just keep going and get him off, at that moment. "Get this collar off of me... "

"Ah, but Madame Auctioneer said that you're mine now!" Xelloss said, eyes open and gleaming in the dim light. "You heard her relinquish her claim on you to me, didn't you?"

"What? You mean... ?" Zel flailed, remembering what Xelloss said about the collar binding him to whoever won him in the auction. "But you didn't..."

He sputtered, staring helplessly at Xelloss' grinning face. Xelloss didn't actually bid or buy him, so no deal was made, he thought, desperately. But the collar still held his magic sealed, at any rate. Did that mean he was, indeed, magically bound to Xelloss now? He stared at the Mazoku with a growing sense of horror.

"Does it matter?" Xelloss interrupted, giving his cock another perfect stroke, and pulling him up so their lips were nearly touching. Zel's breath hitched. He was caught, he knew it - it _didn't_ matter, at the moment; nothing did, except Xelloss' touch.

This time Xelloss did strip the underwear away. His ungloved hand was hot and firm on Zelgadis, and their faces were so close Zelgadis could almost taste him, remembering the force of his kiss. Before he knew it, he found himself begging again.

"Please, Xelloss..."

"Hm?" Xelloss stopped him with a raised eyebrow, and touched his lips. Zel knew what he was hinting, but he wouldn't, _could not_ call him Master again.

"Please, Xelloss," he said, trying to sound as normal as possible, trying to sound angry and determined instead of weak and desperate, "let me go ... or .. or else, let me...."

"Oh, no, I don't think I will let you go," Xelloss said. He pulled Zel closer, lips just touching. "But I will let you come."

He pushed Zel down to the floor and dropped down to straddle his legs, and started to pump him in earnest with one hand. His other hand, still holding the leash, roamed all over Zel's body, and his mouth sucked on rocky skin, and his suddenly naked, solid body pressed against Zel's. His eyes held Zel's gaze as long as Zel could focus, as he finally started to come with a sob, thrashing in his bonds, under Xelloss' weight, pressing back against the mazoku for all the contact he could get.

He was barely aware enough to see Xelloss' eyes close, hear him moan and feel him moving against him - as if he was out of control, too, for a moment. On some level, it occured to him to be surprised. Xelloss was not human, not even a physical being, so he couldn't actually be having an orgasm, but maybe, Zelgadis supposed, this was the same thing to a mazoku.

When he could finally catch his breath again, Xelloss sat back and let him push himself up onto his bound hands.

"That," Xelloss said, grinning, "was delicious, Zelgadis-san!"

For a few seconds, Zelgadis sputtered, beyond speech. "You - you bastard - !"

While he was busy sputtering, Xelloss reached out and touched his hand to the collar. It broke apart with a clang, and dissolved into nothing before the pieces hit the floor.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Zelgadis growled as he used his own magic to dissolve the ropes. His fingers twitched with the urge to grab Xelloss and throttle him - for all the good that would do. And he had been rescued, he supposed, after all. In the most humiliating way possible.

Xelloss watched him, eyes glittering with amusement. "Actually, no; I had to own you first before I could dissolve the binding spell on the collar."

That startled Zelgadis into silence. He really had been bound to Xelloss? And been released? He narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't see why Xelloss would continue the charade at this point.

Xelloss sighed and stared at his neck, as if he already regretted breaking the collar after all.

"Ah well! Having you be so submissive to me was certainly interesting, for a while. But I also prefer my defiant, proud chimera this way after all!"

"I do not belong to you!" Zel muttered, bristling - and trying to ignore the flutter of arousal that returned at the memory of what they just did, both in front of an audience and in private. Xelloss grinned and made a noncommittal hmmmm! in response, making Zel bristle even more.

It occured to him, suddenly, that Xelloss could have blasted the entire roomful of half-demons into dust with no more than a glance. "But that wouldn't have been as much for for you as humiliating me, would it?" he snapped.

"Well, that might be true, now that you mention it," Xelloss said, tipping his head thoughtfully. "But there would have been, let's just say, certain political ramifications if I did that. In fact, you helped me out a little bit, Zel-san. And I saved you from a short but very unpleasant life with Shatlot, so I'd say we're even, more or less."

"I suppose," Zelgadis said. He almost added that Xelloss should consider himself well thanked after what he just did to him, but he didn't - because he still wasn't quite sure what all that was for, after all.

"Anyway, where did you bring me to?" he said, finally taking a good look around.

What he'd assumed was a cave or a cellar was actually a warren of cave passages, both carved and natural; dim light filtered down through dusty air from somewhere far above, and he could see numerous shelves and alcoves dug into the rock walls. Dim shapes filled some of them; it took him a while to realize that many of the shapes were human skulls and bones.

"The place you were going before the demons captured you, of course. The Catacombs under the old city of Liie. I assume that's what you were looking for when you crossed the border into Sadd, hm?"

Zel had never heard of the Catacombs of Liie, but he didn't admit that. At a glance, he could guess what the place must be; a refuge, an underground hiding place for the study of sorcery and worship of the gods in a country overrun by demons, and tombs for the dead, protected from demonic plundering. Long abandoned, by the look of it, but he sensed some latent sorcery in the place.

"I - uh, thank you," he said, surprised and excited, and yet, a second later, suspicious instead. Remembering various things that Xelloss and Fonfon had said to each other, and the demons' attitude toward a high-ranking Mozoku appearing in their midst, he suspected Xelloss had some ulterior motive for bringing him here - something he was meant to find.

But Xelloss was obviously not going to give him a chance to ask about it. He momentarily distracted Zelgadis away from the question with another - breath-stopping - kiss, and then stepped back, finger raised in the air in a gesture that was all too familiar.

"Do be careful leaving the country," he said cheerfully. He leaned forward, leering. "If I have to come and claim you again, we'll probably have to resort to an even more graphic demonstration of your 'loyalty'! Not that I would mind if we did..." he said, and winked, and disappeared.

.... Leaving Zelgadis to realize that, while he'd rather not have an audience next time, he might not actually mind it, either.

~ end ~


End file.
